


The Veil

by RyderDaniels



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alien Character(s), Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Alien Planet, Aliens, Alternate Session, Dream Bubbles, Furthest Ring, Gen, Headcanon, In the Veil, Isolation, Mild Language, Null Session, SBURB Fan Session
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-11-05 20:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11020746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyderDaniels/pseuds/RyderDaniels
Summary: A Mage of Void absconded from a Null session into a different one. He hides out in The Veil, using computers, books, and Skaian technology to learn all he can in the many years before entry. This is the journal he writes in to keep his mind intact, and to share all he's learned for whoever decides to read it. And soon he'll have to fill a role that he never knew even existed.





	1. Days 1-2: Welcome to The Veil

_**Day 1** _

_I immediately regret this decision. I wanted to write all of this with a quill, but I suck at handwriting for more than a sentence._

_I'm going to find a computer & printer._

* * *

I can't believe I actually found one, there aren't usually _any_ printers in The Veil, (yay, _italics!_ ).

_So..._ I found this empty tome and decided to keep a journal to gather my thoughts, (my condolences to whoever reads this). I've also found a bed here, so I'm going to sleep one off later, and I'm going to question the fact that there's a bed here tomorrow. I don't think I even  _need_ sleep at this point, but at least it will let me clear my head.

But I shouldn't get ahead of myself, I still need to explain everything, after all, I need to clear my thoughts, and I don't know who might read this, or even if they know anything about Sburb. So, here's my story.

I was going to play a computer game with my friends, (are aliens going to read this? Do I need to explain computers?). Never-mind, basically I was just going to kick back and play the newest gaming sensation of the century. I thought that I would be able to have a relaxing time with my friends.

_I was wrong._

This “game” could affect reality in ways that it should  _never_ be able to. We were shocked, but we couldn't stay shocked for long...

_We had a time limit._

One by one, we had been transportilized, (along with our houses, and yes, that  _is_ a word), into a place called The Medium, a different dimension for which we all had a planet each, with creatures called consorts, and monsters called Denizens. We had narrowly escaped meteors falling on us, meteors that the game had dropped on us. Building up our houses, we had to battle the underlings that spawned on our planet, so we could use the grist they dropped as building material, and as resources for alchemy, which is used to make better weapons and anything else we needed.

The end goal was to save Skaia, a celestial body that was a well of  _unlimited creative potential._ To do so included a war that was taking place on said body, a war between the light forces of Prospit, and the dark forces of Derse.

This was a war that Derse was destined to win, but it was not a war of futility, for Prospit knew they would lose, but they still needed to buy time for their heroes to be ready, and those heroes were us. When the White King is killed, the Black King calls forth meteors from The Veil, through the Icipisphere, to Skaia in the center, and have it destroyed. But Skaia could provide us with our final seconds by sending the meteors through the Skaian Defense Portals to the only other place it knew, on  _our_ planet, back in time. Our job, was to ascend into god-hood and kill the King in those final moments and save Skaia, using it to create an  _entire new universe_ .

_We had failed._

It's not like we didn't see this coming, or at least I did. My title, as in, what I could do as a god, was the Mage of Void. I could gather information that was obscured, or be the one to obscure it in the first place. Since Time doesn't have as strong a hold in The Medium (or as gods) as it does normally, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that every possible timeline exists, but only the main timeline isn't a doomed one. A doomed timeline is where things go in a way that it wasn't supposed to, and as a Mage of Void, that meant that I could see what was impossible to achieve, like I could actually  _see_ the Void.

_And every timeline where we win, is a doomed one._

But they wouldn't listen to me, so I just played along. Once it became clear that we were boned, we had one more option. The Denizens weren't just monsters, we  _could_ kill them and get lots of grist, but the interesting thing about them, is that even though they will battle with gusto, they are still there to help.

If you talked to yours, he would give you  The Choice , (yes, you need the underline). They already know what you are about to pick,  The Choice is more of a formality, so when our Prince of Time ignored my plea and went to his, his Denizen already knew what to ask him. The reason why it had to be our Time player, is because we had a second chance, The Scratch. The Scratch was a way to reset our universe, and start the game again with different circumstances, but we would forget everything. His Denizen told him that he could release The Construct for which to Scratch (literally), or he could listen to me. He should've picked the latter, for you see, I had been trying to warn him, but he would have none of my “pessimism”.

_Every timeline with The Scratch, was doomed also._

While everyone foolishly followed him on the quest of futility, I had another plan in mind. I would escape.

On the outside of every session of the game, is the space between dimensions, The Furthest Ring. Here, the Horror-Terrors lie, their bubbles glubbed (what?) were where the dead would roam. I was successful, I had used my Mage powers to find the nearest session that didn't loop back to my own, seeing as how Time and Space doesn't seem to work very well out there.

I landed on someone else's planet, someone of an alien civilization that had also been victim to the “game”. The hero of Time, he spoke to me (in English, wtf?), told me that a future version of myself had told him to bring me back in time. I was no stranger to stable time loops, so I followed him, it'd be a weird thing to say if I  _ wasn't  _ the one to tell him, so I trusted him. He went back to before the session started and found the biggest lab he could find.

The Veil, the ring of meteors in The Medium, have lots of labs on them (don't ask me why), and I have reasoned, that it  _ is  _ possible to live on one, if one wanted to that is. The Hero of Time told me that I had lived there for a while.

After he left, all I could think about is how mentally exhausted I was (since gods can't get  _ physically  _ tired). I found this empty tome and quill and ink, wrote in it, and I found a large room full of computers (not that strange for a Veil lab).

Tomorrow I'll probably explore for a bit.

* * *

 

_**Day 2** _

I dreamed last night, but since I no longer have a dream self, (long story) I dreamed in the dream bubbles. The Horror-Terrors - unlike how so many others go crazy just at the sight of them - comforted me with ancient songs as old as Paradox Space itself.

Now I can comprehend the fact that  _ the bed-sheets have the Void symbol on them. _

Obviously, I freaked out, big time, not only did the sheets have it, but there were vertical banners along the walls that had it as well, the door had it too. And near the bedroom there was something else I didn't expect, a massive front door, it's not a laboratory, it's a mansion! The doors open towards Skaia, the windows next to it let in it's light.

I wasn't really sure what to think of everything having my aspect symbol on it, so I just went back to the room with the computers. In the center is the transportilizer to use to go in and out. Desks are arranged in lines, computers and chairs at each one. On one end of the room is a massive four panel screen, I remember seeing this kind of thing somewhere, it's called a Fenestrated Wall.

I sit in the back right corner of the room, at the far side from the Wall. It's laid out like a cubicle, a corner desk facing the wrong way, only touching the wall to the left, leaving space to enter on the right. On the desk sits a big four monitor setup arranged in a two by two formation; it sits in the corner of the desk, covering all of the good view I have of the room. The computer tower (the main part) is laid down to the right of the monitors, a printer/scanner to the left.

Under the desk, the back is covered, leaving it a flat surface on the other side. On the right, there is a mini server rack, some extra hard-drives, and a plethora of wires snaking from a hole in the desk, and the equipment to the right, arranged and cable-tied. On the left is various drawers, containing some spare paper, portable hard-drives, and miscellaneous computery stuff.

Oh, and to add to the freak-out counter, _ what looks like a Sburb Server disk. _

Don't worry, I won't put it in, but mostly because it's already installed, and running.  _ But good news,  _ it's not a Server disk (much to my relief), but something called a Host disk.

I don't know what it does, but there are a lot of functions here, most of them grayed out, the tool-tips say that I need to wait until installation/entry. Do I need to wait for other players? Am I playing as well? I have no idea what I'm doing, but there doesn't seem to be anything of importance, so I've just left it alone for now.

I think that the multiverse deserves a point for my “freak-out x3 combo”. Paradox Space: 1, Gods: 0.

But lets not forget how I've gone rogue and absconded from my session into a different one. Gods: 1. How bad-ass am I?

On a side-note, the moment I tried to access my Sylladex Inventory System™, the entire thing got ejected.

Paradox Space: 2

I'm not worried though, because the reason I was fiddling around with it is because I found a different inventory abstraction on the desk, with a note:

* * *

 

_You might need this._

_-Yourself_

* * *

 

I've also checked, and the system clock on this thing tells me that my overnight nap has, in fact, taken place at night, not that The Medium  _ has  _ a night (when do consorts sleep?).

I'm gonna try out this new system, and maybe try to find out why I needed a different one.

 


	2. Days 3-5: Finding a new friend

_**Day 3** _

The new system is called an Invidex, which has a simpler (but much less whimsical) vernacular. You simply pick up items and deploy/use them, like an inventory system from an RPG. The Strife Deck is replaced with a Battle Dex with a Battletype instead of a Strife Specibus, but mine is still Staffkind, so I can fight with staffs and store them separately. The Invidex Modus I have is Absence, meaning that the only way I can deploy an item is if they – or something similar – don't already exist in my general vicinity. The range depends on the item's size and importance, so I can drop an apple across the room from another one, but I need to be in a different universe to put down one of the Queen's rings (which is very important in case you haven't realized).

I put my stuff into some of the 10 cards I have. Some books I had in case I ever got bored waiting for something (all in one card), a canteen filled with water from the rivers of the Land of Rivers and Darkness (my personal planet), and my Sprite's token, which does not work (big surprise).

_Anyways,_ I guess I should be exploring more, but I can't help but take note of the fact that according to the computer in the corner, I'm in the deep past.

Like, the deep _deep_ past.

Many _decades_ to my estimate.

Paradox Space: 3

I'd find out more about the dating system of the heroes' planet later, I'm kinda tired from all the escaping. I just hope that I'm not supposed to be doing anything of importance.

* * *

_**Day 4** _

Believe it or not, but the libraries in this place are actually pretty amazing. Whether it's about Cloud-4 (the aliens' planet), the lore of the personal planets, or indepth information about the game, there always seems to be a wealth of knowledge to gain.

I _am_ aware of Paradox Space's “coincidence” in where I'm someone who has important knowledge relating to or coming from the Aspect of Void, and I'm in the Veil, reading about knowledge never meant to be known by players.

In any case, I guess I know what I'm doing for the next _many_ years of my life. Gods: 2. Hooray for books!

I already read a lot about what The Veil represents, and it's very interesting. Basically, The Veil acts as a sort of behind-the-scenes area, a place where various miscellaneous entities interact with the machinery to populate the Lands with Underlings and the Battlefield with Carapacians. It does so much more than that though, the list goes on.

But it references someone called a Host (I'm guessing that's me), who is supposed to make sure everything works, and to use it for themselves when necessary. So I guess I have a way to get grist, as long as I don't screw up and have the Underlings constantly keep spawning.

And on the subject of personal planets, I can confirm that they are very much important if you want to get your personal issues out of the way. And also they are very fun to learn about, it's like having a sneak peak at what it's like to discover a new planet in your own universe.

But I don't even have that.

* * *

_**Day 5** _

First off, sorry about the somber end to the last entry, where I stop writing and start complaining to myself about not having a planet anymore (and wasted a whole night I could've spent working).

But there is bigger news afoot.

I found someone, I mean really, I found someone here in The Veil. I was messing about with this chat client and someone somehow got my handle and started chatting me up.

* * *

\-- carapaceDoctor [CD] began teasing voidDweller [VD] at ??:?? --  
  
CD: well what do you know, he was right  
VD: What? Who are you?  
CD: you appeared at exactly the correct time  
CD: i must say you have a way with bookkeeping  
VD: Book-keeping?  
CD: he told me you kept a little book of times when things were supposed to happen  
VD: Who did? Who are you?  
CD: oh were are my manners  
CD: im supposed to be your assistant  
VD: I don't need an assistant, I need answers, I thought I was alone.  
CD: thats how i thought about it at least  
CD: i still dont now what im supposed to do  
VD: Where did you even come from?  
CD: Realm of Dyme and Flux  
VD: One of the planets?  
VD: Wait...  
VD: Are you a Consort?  
CD: thats right  
VD: But the planets don't even exist yet!  
CD: the hero of our realm did some weird time bullshit  
CD: sending me back in time and moving me to this place  
CD: im not even sure there was an ounce of logic behind what he did  
CD: but who am i to question the gods  
CD: especially if i am to serve the archgod  
VD: Woah, back up there buddy.  
VD: I don't need anyone serving me.  
VD: I don't think I deserve to be served.  
VD: What kind of god deserts his friends?  
VD: Wait...  
VD: What do you mean Archgod?  
CD: i believe it goes:  
CD: our heroes will not be alone, for they will receive devine intervention in the form of a guardian  
CD: and if and when the heroes complete there quest, he to shall receive a grand reward, and an honorable title will be bestowed apon him  
CD: actually they only told that last sentence to me  
CD: the others neednt worry about the affairs of gods i guess  
VD: I didn't even know there was something higher than a god.  
VD: Wait, so you're supposed to be here to help me.  
CD: the hero chose me himself so you wouldnt be alone for 10 hole cycles  
VD: So more of a companion?  
CD: call me what you will im just happy to help  
CD: were are you  
VD: Near the entrance.  
CD: meet you in 15 minutes  
  
\-- carapaceDoctor [CD] stopped teasing voidDweller [VD] at ??:?? --

* * *

So I guess I'll wait for him at the entrance.

* * *

That was an interesting meet to say the least.

Right now he's sitting at one of the computers, setting up the Wall to give me a view of Cloud-4 – at least until I find the Heroes – and then later he'll get up and wander for a bit, probably to look for a place to stay.

He is a red turtle with a maroon shell, his height reaches to about my waist and has a couple scars on his arms and legs. He has an air of confidence about him, with a bit of a laid back attitude. This always seems to falter a little whenever he's around me, like I've done something in the future, or he's heard something, to make him respect me...

_Or fear me._

But never-mind that. When I asked him about his planet, he told me it was mostly grassy with some large rocks protruding from the ground. A blue crystal called Dyme can be seen sticking out of these rocks, apparently it's used for time-keeping devices, and it appears on Cloud-4 as well.

That explains why the Hero of Time had blue God-Tier clothes with a diamond for a symbol, something that I forgot to write about earlier.

But by far the most interesting thing I found out about the planet...

There is no Scratch Construct.

I _would_ say that this is a Scratched Session, except he knew what it was, it was on another planet.

Anyways, better find the Heroes, apparently I need to look after the buggers.


	3. Days 6-7: Ecto-god-ology

_**Day 6** _

This morning when I asked about the Heroes, Damon (the Consort) said _I_ have to be the one to create them, using the machines. If only I knew how to operate them, I'll probably just consult the library for instructions.

I've also noticed that he seems a lot more intelligent than the Consorts in my session, since the Consorts in my session have a reputation for having below average intelligence and a short lifespan, though I guess you could blame that on the weirdness of this session compared to mine.

In any case, I'll need to read up on these manuals if I don't want to screw up horribly.

Speaking of books, I have a couple of them on hold, I figured that I should paste snippets of them in here when they're relevant, so to avoid explaining them in a horrible way myself. Obviously I'll be starting with the one I found on a podium in my room: The Host's guide to Sburb.

Well, I guess I'll be busy, so let me leave you with this...

* * *

_**The Chapter of Genetics and Paradox Clones** _

_You will find a number of things in the Veil, most of which relate to giant machines of unknown purpose, often housing a number of familiar looking creatures, further confirming the idea of the Veil being a sort of 'backstage' area. Usually, one or more of the players, (or other entities), will find themselves here at some point, where they will interface with the past in order to make sure they play the game._

_Maybe they'll insure they become friends, or give them a present that relates to Sburb. But the most common form of interaction, is to create Paradox clones of the players and their guardians, a clone of themselves that become themselves, sent back in time to exist in the first place. But that's not to say that those with proof of their natural birth can't play Sburb, as I have said, that's just what_ usually  _happens._

_These Paradox Clones become an important part of using The Scratch, altering the original conditions in order to make sure different things happen._

_But, I digress, this isn't of any real importance when you consider that Paradox Space will always make sure that what's supposed to happen, happens._

* * *

 

_**Day 7** _

There, I finally finished. After reading dozens of books on the subject, I finally managed to create the Heroes. Right now they're in a few of the many containers that the Veil tends to have lying around. You have _no_ idea what I had to do to make them, I'm sure even aliens will agree, it was less than savory.

In any case, I'm here with Damon, who is currently trying to find a good place on their planet to put them. The Claudens have something called hives, where groups of them grow up together. But they aren't taken care of by adults, apparently, they have a symbiotic relationship with intelligent animal-like creatures that do.

After this, I'm supposed to set up the players to spawn inside eggs, (like the rest of the Claudens), and Transportalize them into whatever coordinates Damon gives me.

Sorry I haven't made these entries longer, I'm only just getting settled in, and it's not like I have that much to say anyways, but I'll keep reading and copying what sounds important, since this tome isn't just a journal.

I have decided that whoever finds this, will find a comprehensive record of these guys' adventures through life, and through this hellish 'game'. It's interesting to think that this might become a bible of sorts for the new universe.

Anyways, I better start preparing the heroes, later I'll put in the introduction to the book I was reading yesterday, you know, the one I found on the podium.

* * *

_**Introductions** _

_Welcome Host, to the complicated world of Sburb._

_Whether you are in the session already or not, or even knowledgeable about how it works, this book will teach you a lot about the nature of Sburb, gods, and Paradox Space as a whole. I for one am one of these gods, and I have experienced a great deal of these inter-workings, and whatever I didn't already know, the Horror-Terrors have provided information to me of._

_I don't know why they want a guide to be made, and I don't know why they chose me to write it, but the Horror-Terrors have their own agenda, so I guess they have their own reasons. So while I introduce you to the life-cycle of universes, take note that I am a reliable source of information, because if I get anything wrong, the Horror-Terrors will point it out._

_And since our session had no Host, I am not biased on their nature, since they can be friend or foe, or anything in between. A Host can have their own planet, and can even be considered another ordinary player. A host can also ignore the plot completely, going on their own path to venture into the unknown, or to seek out great artifacts and the like. The main aspect of a Host is their ability to forge their own path, player or not, god or not, but all Hosts are known to know how a session works, inside and out._

_So be sure to read as much of this book as relevant, and thanks in advance for trusting me, the Seer of Light,_

_Rose Lalonde._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was said that even though Rose promised to use normal people words and remain brief and to the point, Kanaya had to heavily edit it to be readable.
> 
> Lets dwell on the fact that Kanaya, a troll, can be better understood by humans more than Rose, an actual human.
> 
> Also, this is the last introduction chapter, just shenanigans from here on out.


End file.
